Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Our "baby" girl, Emily, turned 18 years old today. It seems like just yesterday that we were rushing to the hospital on a beautiful April morning and now, 18 years later, here we are. I always thought it ridiculous when I heard older adults bemoaning the passing of the years but now I'm beginning to know how they feel.

The years have flown since Emily was a baby and keeping me on my toes. She wanted to nurse constantly and never wanted to sleep. We worked our way through the feeding and sleeping issues, thankfully! She was a zealously "loving" big sister and Leah tolerated her sister's attention admirably. From learning how to ride a bike to starting her own girl's magazine that she self-published for five years, it's been a fun to watch her handle life's challenges. She's always been a natural leader and has an artistic gift that she's continued to develop through the years. She was the youngest leader our church has ever had in their Awana program and has been leading Cubbie groups for the last seven years.

Mike and I decided we wanted to do something special to celebrate her 18th birthday and upcoming graduation so we decided to buy her a car. We found a used Grand Prix and bought it as a surprise.

We've been working on this for a while and I was wondering if we could really pull it off, but we did! She was shocked, amazed, thrilled and yes, even speechless when Mike pulled the car up by the front door and rang the doorbell . Then she began screaming and hopping up and down, asking if it was really for her. Later, after our guests left, she took her sister and brother out for a maiden voyage run around town and returned grinning ear to ear. I'd say our surprise was a rousing success.

Happy Birthday, Honey! May you always walk with God and may you have many happy miles behind the wheel of your "new" car!

Monday, April 11, 2011

It may sound weird, but once you try these tasty little tidbits, I promise you'll be hooked:

I prepared an entire pan for our art academy class tomorrow.

Last week I was talking about how good they are and nobody believed me so I volunteered to bring some to our next class.

When I made them last time, I dipped about half of the chip in chocolate but I was under a time crunch before our class tomorrow so I came up with this brilliant idea: Spread the chips out on a piece of parchment paper and drizzle the melted chocolate over the chips. Then sprinkle ever so lightly with sea salt.

Are you hungry yet? All it takes is a bag of Old Dutch potato chips, one cup of milk chocolate chips (or use semi-sweet or dark, whatever you prefer). Melt the chips at half power in the microwave, transfer into a ziploc bag, snip a small portion off the corner and squeeze the chocolate all over the chips. Sprinkle kosher style flake salt lightly over the chocolate covered potato chips. Let cool and enjoy!